1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data processing in an information processing system including a server apparatus and an information processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in an information processing system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-169807, for example, character information included in an electronic document which is to be electrically transmitted is converted into character information different from the original character information so that confidentiality of the information is protected.
In this case, in processing of converting the character information, a conversion font is generated using a plurality of conversion tables provided in advance, and therefore, an identical font is generated in accordance with the tables every time the conversion processing is performed.
Since the electronic document and the conversion font are included in different files, the information processing system is realized by managing font files for electronic documents in the server apparatus, embedding a communication protocol dedicated for downloading of a font for a client apparatus and a font for the client apparatus, and performing registration of the font for usage.
Furthermore, as a data processing system which includes a server, a client, and a printing terminal, a system in which data to be printed (hereinafter referred to as a “printing data”) in accordance with an instruction issued by a user using the client is temporarily stored in the server, and the printing data stored in the server is printed using the printing terminal after the user performs authentication of the printing data using the printing terminal has been proposed.
In such a system, since a format uniquely developed is generally employed in the printing data, it is difficult even for an authorized user who can refer to data stored in the server to recognize content of the printing data.
However, when an XML (Extensible Markup Language), which is a markup language, is employed in the printing data, content of XML data stored in the server can be easily recognized using XML viewers and text editors. Therefore, when personal information or highly-confidential data is to be printed, a problem on security arises.
Furthermore, in a system in which printing data is temporarily stored in a server, in a case where the number of printing and a printing period are set in advance, the printing data can be stored in the server for a long period of time. Therefore, there arises a problem in that it is highly possible that a third party recognizes content of the printing data while the printing data is stored in the server.
FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a data processing system. In this example, the data processing system includes a server apparatus, a terminal apparatus, and a printing terminal.
In FIG. 22, when a user instructs a printer 107 to print a document 105 (here, the electronic document 105 includes characters “DEF”) using a PC 104 connected to a network NET, a printer driver installed in the PC 104 converts the document 105 into an XML document 106 (here, the XML document 106 includes characters “DEF”).
Note that, in general, the XML document includes an XPS document developed by Microsoft Corporation.
The XML document 106 obtained through the conversion is temporarily stored as an XML document 103 in a storage device 102 logically connected to a server 101 serving as a printing server.
Normally, such a server 101 is configured such that only an administrator can refer to resources included in the storage device 102, for example, and documents are prevented from being inappropriately referred to by the general public. However, since an inappropriate reference performed by the administrator can not be prevented, characters “DEF” are referred to by the administrator.
The XML document 103 is transmitted through the server 101 to a printer 107 where the XML document 103 is printed.
In a case where the user who operates the printer issues an request for start of printing using the printer 107, the longer a period of time before the user issues the request becomes, the longer a period of time in which data is stored in the storage device 102 of the server 101 becomes. Therefore, it is highly possible that the stored XML document 103 is inappropriately referred to.
As described above, in the case where the XML data is employed as the printing data, a document obtained by merely converting an original document is easily referred to using general XML viewers or general text editors. Accordingly, a problem on security arises.
Referring to FIG. 23, confidentiality of documents and data will be described.
FIG. 23 shows an example of the printing data managed in the data processing system shown in FIG. 22. In this example, a management table of customer data 2301 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 23, the table managing the customer data 2301 generally includes customer numbers, customer names, addresses, phone numbers, and birthdays as needed. In the data included in the table, the addresses, the phone numbers, and the birthdays are highly important as personal information 2302, and therefore, confidentiality of them should be protected as much as possible.
In a case where such personal information is configured in an XPS format, when the personal information 2302 is stored and managed in the storage device 102 shown in FIG. 22 for a predetermined period of time, the administrator can easily refer to and print the personal information. Accordingly, there arises a problem in that the personal information is leaked.